Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hi, My project is concerning "which fast -food burger contains the least grease. My hypothesis is: "If hamburgers from McDonalds, Wendy's, or BurgerKing contains grease then Wendy's hamburgers contain the least grease. I need help on creating a procedure to find which burger has the least grease. Are there any ways to squeeze the grease out of a burger and measure its amount of grease. Help please and thank you.

Hi,

What an interesting question! I looked for some methods of measuring fat in hamburger and came up with these methods:

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:yu ... d=15&gl=us

http://books.google.com/books?id=FjS4wt ... #PPA234,M1


Here is a brochure summarizing methods of analyzing fat in meat in Austrailia

http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:yu ... d=15&gl=us

http://www.meatupdate.csiro.au/infoshee ... 201997.pdf

Here is a paper reviewing analysis methods for fat in meat products:

http://jas.fass.org/cgi/reprint/42/1/67.pdf

It might also be interesting to enquire of your local meat market how they control the fat measurement of their hamburger. It could also be interesting to ask you local county weights and measures department the same question. They might have a measurement instrument that rapidly tests meat using Near Infrared, or some other technology that they could tell you about.

This could be a really neat project!
Good luck with it!

Barrett Tomlinson

Thank you for your great help!!!!

I need an opinion on the title of my profect which is "which fast-burger contains the least grease"? Maybe something like "How much grease is in that burger"? or "how much grease is in that meat"? I am trying to create a catchy title.

Hi summergirl,

I think those are all catchy titles -- including "burger" or even "fast-food burger" is good because it's more specific than "meat", which might lead people to expect a comparison of beef/chicken/fish/etc. It would also probably draw attention if you included photos on your project board, and they can also help to illustrate your method and results.

Hope the grease extraction is going well -- let us know if you have more questions!

Amanda

thank you for your opinion and help!

I like "How much grease is in that fast food burger meat?"

Remember, it is always best to do 3 trials for each type of burger meat. This way, not only can you get accurate results, you can do more statistical analysis with it such as average, max/min, standard deviation etc.

if you don't know, standard deviation is explained here:
http://www.robertniles.com/stats/stdev.shtml

I believe the most practical method is through microsoft excel

Good luck!
-Dan

thank you for your help!

Ok so i have to agree.... I like the titles of your project. Yes the other ones are more revelent and tell more of the project... but quite frankly "How much grease is is your meat?" is way more catchy!!!

Hi luv2swim222,

A small suggestion. Do you like - "How much grease is is your meal?"

Oops, so much for cutting and pasting without proofreading, it should be: "How much grease is in your meal?"